On Tuesday, March 24, 2015, the Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood (HMRF) Technical Assistance Team conducted a webinar entitled, “Keeping the Ship Afloat: Reducing Staff Turnover and Building Stability Systems.” The webinar provided context, challenges, and solutions associated with retaining staff and managing transitions. Featured speakers discussed promising practices and lessons learned from research and a veteran program with extensive experience. HMRF also released a factsheet that highlights effective strategies programs can use to retain staff and maintain services during staff transitions. Additionally, a supplemental checklist provides tools to manage and maintain staff commitment to the program.

This post from a TANF program specialist at the Office of Family Assistance (OFA) describes OFA’s efforts in improving TANF programs across the country. To share ideas about improving case management, integrating two-generation approaches, engaging workforce partners, and enhancing training, OFA has launched a national policy academy. The first groups to enter the academy are Connecticut, Colorado, Maryland, North Carolina, Ramsey County (Minnesota), Utah, Washington, and West Virginia.

As part of Policy Futures, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) examines what works in terms of federal and state policies and programs to reduce poverty and promote opportunity for low-income populations. This resource synthesizes the findings of poverty researchers around the country on program effectiveness. This effort seeks to inform discussions about new investments in poverty reduction programs, as well as reforms of existing programs.

This series of policy briefs focuses on three basic TANF components: cash assistance, block grants, and work participation rates. The briefs, geared toward policymakers, practitioners, and advocates within all levels of government, explain the components and describe the changes and adaptations to TANF since its inception in 1996.

The belief that those who work hard can achieve success has made Americans more tolerant of inequality than citizens in other advanced nations. However, to succeed, Americans need the opportunity to get ahead. In a report from the Brookings Institution and the Economic Mobility Project, Brookings Scholars Julia Isaacs, Ron Haskins, and Isabel Sawhill summarize research and present new evidence regarding the extent of intergenerational economic mobility in the U.S. and the factors that impact it.

In this report from Ascend at the Aspen Institute, the authors outline the emerging case for two-generation approaches to moving parents and families toward economic security. The report outlines key trends and data that are prompting the need for this approach. Data suggests that more than one in five U.S. children live in poverty, a connection exists between maternal education and child outcomes, and women and children in single-mother families have disproportionately high rates of poverty. Ascend identified three components in its equation for two-generation approaches: education + economic supports + social capital; a combination of these three components can lead to successful two-generation policies.

This article from the Future of Children Collaboration examines programs with an explicitly two-generation approach. The authors look at these past and current programs’ efficacy, and although the more recent two-generation programs are too young to have clear evidence, they found that the justification for these programs is strong and their early results are promising. Now is the time to innovate, experiment, and further study this two-generation approach.

Produced by the National Head Start Association with support from the Ascend project at The Aspen Institute, this report highlights six case studies from Head Start and Early Head Start programs that have implemented two-generation approaches within their programs. Each case study includes information on the project design, funding, partnerships, research, and future plans. Finally, an analysis of funding, partnerships, and research across all the programs is provided for a broad perspective.

This paper published by the Institute for Research on Poverty examines the effect of Medicaid expansions on intergenerational economic mobility. Using new data, the authors utilize the uneven Medicaid eligibility expansions across states to isolate the effect of this policy change on various mobility outcomes. The research led to the conclusion that Medicaid expansions increase the probability that children born to low-income parents experience absolute upward mobility. Furthermore, early exposure to health insurance may be influential in promoting intergenerational mobility and economic opportunity.